Question

A volleyball net post needs a cable to support it the hook to attach the cable is 4 ft above the court surface and the hook in the floor is 3 ft from the base of the post how long should the cable be

Answer 1

To determine the length of the cable needed to support the volleyball net post, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. The setup forms a right triangle where:

- One leg is the vertical distance from the hook on the post to the court surface (4 ft).
- The other leg is the horizontal distance from the base of the post to the hook on the floor (3 ft).
- The hypotenuse will be the length of the cable we want to calculate.

Using the Pythagorean theorem:

\[
c^2 = a^2 + b^2
\]

where:
- \(a = 4\) ft (vertical leg),
- \(b = 3\) ft (horizontal leg),
- \(c\) is the length of the cable.

Substituting the values:

\[
c^2 = 4^2 + 3^2
\]
\[
c^2 = 16 + 9
\]
\[
c^2 = 25
\]

Now, taking the square root of both sides to find \(c\):

\[
c = \sqrt{25} = 5 \text{ ft}
\]

Therefore, the length of the cable should be **5 feet**.